


Checking The Lines

by RichardGraysonPercyJackson



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Dick Grayson is Robin, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd is Robin, Paranoia, Protective Dick Grayson, maybe? - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-26 14:37:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21375733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RichardGraysonPercyJackson/pseuds/RichardGraysonPercyJackson
Summary: It started some what suddenly when Dick was Robin, this almost insistent need to check their grappling lines.And it's not until Jason Todd comes into the picture as Robin that Bruce decides to ask about it.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 268





	Checking The Lines

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Between the Lines](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14332716) by [PolsVoice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PolsVoice/pseuds/PolsVoice). 

> This story is not at all like Polsvoice's story but it was inspired by that one so definetly check it out cause it's good!

It had developed soon after Dick had become Robin, shortly after his first few weeks on the street but it most noticeably started after he and Bruce had used their grappling guns and Bruce had made an offhand comment about how it seemed weak, needed to be checked.

“Can I check?” Dick had asked eagerly, the two of them in the batmobile on the way back to the cave. “I mean, I’ll have to learn how to check my own eventually, right? So can I check?”

Admittedly, Bruce hadn’t thought anything of it at the time. Agreeing simply because it was best to have two pairs of eyes on it in case one person saw something the other had missed.

After that, Dick always checked the lines before and after patrol and it wasn’t until Jason was Robin, Dick patrolling as Nightwing with them, when Bruce first suspected maybe his eldest had a reason for this new habit.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Dick said, swooping in to snag the grapple gun from Jason who protested with an angry ‘hey!’. “I check the lines.”

“B says I have to learn it,” Jason snapped, crossing his arms over his chest with a scowl on his face though Dick was sure it was more an act than anything else.

“Yeah, well, I like to check the lines,” Dick declared. Under his breath, he added, “I won’t let anyone else fall.”

Jason must have heard it too, Bruce mused, because he tilted his head to the side and shot Bruce a look but ultimately didn’t say anything.

Bruce made a mental note to talk to Dick about it after patrol, praying they could both keep a level head for the first time in weeks to carry out this conversation with  _ some _ modicum of chivalry.

He watched silently as Dick finished checking Jason’s line while simultaneously walking his little brother through it. Once Jason had grumbled his thanks and moved off to finish getting ready, Bruce stood and snagged his grapple gun, walking over to Dick.

“Dcik?” he asked, waiting until the acrobat looked up to hand him his own grappling gun. “Will you check this for me?”

Dick’s eyes positively lit up and he nodded eagerly, taking it from Bruce as he animatedly prattled on and on about something or other that Bruce couldn’t quite follow, his mind a mess of trying to figure out what Dick’s whispered words had meant.

He’ll find out later. He fully intends to.

………………………..

“Hey Jaybird, hand me your grapple gun,” Dick requested once they’d returned to the cave and he peeled off his mask.

Jason frowned. “Why?” he asked, even as he was already moving to do as he was told. “You checked it already.”

“Yeah, but that was before patrol,” Dick pointed out. “Now it’s after and it’s been used several times tonight. You can never be too careful, you know?”

Jason grumbled something that was probably rude until Bruce sent him off to shower. He wanted to talk to Dikc and he hoped that maybe the eldest would be more willing to speak if they were alone.

Or maybe that would make it worse. Bruce wasn’t really sure anymore.

“Why do you check the lines?” Bruce asked.

“You can’t ever be too careful,” Dick replied, attention still on the grapple gun in his hands.

“True, I admire that dedication and thought,” Bruce said, taking a seat at the batcomputer and turning to face Dick. if this really did turn into a fight, it would be no good for him to be standing, towering over Dick.

For extra measure, he removed the cowl. That was probably the wrong thing to do because DIck’s hands slowed on the gun and he looked up.

“What?” he asked after a moment of silence where they both simply watched each other.

“You didn’t used to check the lines so…” Bruce searches for the right word that won’t turn Dick into a blinding ball of rage, eventually settling on, “Closely.”

Dick narrowed his eyes, fingers tightening around the grapple gun in his hands. “So what? I’ve been doing this when I was Robin and it was never a problem before! Why is it a problem now!?”

“It’s not,” Bruce soothed, pleased to see confusion take the place of anger in his ward/son/partner’s eyes. “It’s never been. I just realized...I never knew why.”

“It’s like I told Jason,” Dick said, shrugging. “You can never be too careful.”

“No, I suppose you can’t,” Bruce agreed. “You seem...paranoid about though, Dick.”

“What makes you think that?”

“After you moved out, when you probably wanted nothing to do with me because of what I’d done,” Bruce replied. “You hated me.”

Dick’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I did.”

“And yet…” Bruce allowed himself a small smile at the thought. “You still called Alfred every night to make sure I checked my grappling gun.”

Dick’s face flushed and he scoffed, turning away. “It’s not cause I care,” he muttered, even though they both know that’s a boldfaced lie. “I’d just have too much on my plate, you know? If you died.”

“Of course,” Bruce agreed. He lets silence linger between them before standing and unhooking his grappling gun, setting it on the table in front of Dick.

“Would you check it?” he asked gently. “I’m going to shower.”

Dick swallowed thickly and nodded, reaching one hand out to curl gently around the gun.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “No problem.”

……………………………….

“I never gave you a clear answer.”

Bruce paused where he was making his way from the showers towards the stairs of the cave, turning to find Dick completing his last check of Bruce’s grappling gun before leaning against the table and refusing to look at the man.

“Oh?” Bruce asked. He’d noticed but he’d never had any intention of calling Dick out on it.

“Every night, before the show,” Dick began softly. “My mom and dad would always check the ropes.”

Bruce really doesn’t need to hear anymore because he already knows where this is going. But he also knows that it might be cathartic for Dick to say it, to put it into words. He doesn’t think it’ll ever cure his son of this paranoia-born need to check their lines before and after patrol, but he does think it’ll soothe whatever fear Dick might have on those nights he doen’t check.

“They’d teach me, you know? They’d say one day I’d need to know how to check my own eventually.”

_ I’ll have to learn how to check my own eventually. _

“Did they check that night?” Bruce asked gently.

Dick sucked in a quiet breath, ducking his head as he whispered, “No.”

“Why?”

“Busy, I think,” Dick replied softly. “I wasn’t allowed up there on my own, unsupervised, so I couldn’t check.” his hands are trembling where they’re gripping the table. “How could they do that, Bruce?” there’s tears in his voice. “How could anything be more important than their safety?”

“They trusted,” Bruce replied. “They trusted the rest of the circus. The rest of their friends and family to have checked for them.”

“But-”

“Everyone makes mistakes, Dick.”

“But this one got them killed!” Dick screamed, spinning to stare at Bruce, blue eyes blazing as tears made tracks down his face. “The  _ one _ time they don’t check and it just so happens to be the same night a mobster comes to threaten us!”

Bruce stepped forward and that seemed to be all Dick needed for his anger to melt away into gut wrenching sobs as he stumbled forward and collapsed into Bruce’s chest.

The man wasn’t sure how long they stood there before he spoke quietly. “Dick, do you blame yourself for your parents death?”

Dick nodded.

“Is that why you check the grappling lines every night?”

Dick nodded again.

Bruce sighed softly, giving Dick a gentle squeeze before pulling his boy away at arms length though keeping tender hold of Dick’s shoulders.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said quietly. “Just like it won’t be your fault if I fall. Or if Jason falls.”

“But-”

“I’m not telling you to stop, Dick,” Bruce insisted, saddened that what he’d assumed Dick was going to say was proved correctly by the way the boy’s mouth snapped closed. “I just want you to know that if the lines break, it is  _ not _ your fault. Do you understand?”

Dick nodded weakly, reaching up to swipe away tears before mumbling. “What will we tell Jason?”

“The truth.”

……………………………

YEARS LATER

“Hey Dickhead.”

Dick raised an eyebrow, looking up from where he’d been examining Tim’s grapple gun to find Jason striding towards him.

“Hi Jay,” he said cheerfully albeit a little cautiously. “What’s up?”

“You still check everyone’s grapples before patrol?” Jason asked. There wasn’t any anger or judgement or anything like that. Just genuine curiosity.

“Yeah,” Dick replied, passing Tim’s back over to him when the young boy walked passed. “Makes me feel...safe.”

“Cool.”

“Are you patrolling with us?” Dick asked, tone hopefully.

“No, I’ve got my own shit to do and I’d rather not duke it out with the world’s greatest assjacket over there,” Jason grunted, taking a seat on the other side of the table from Dick.

“Oh,” Dick said softly. “So...what are you doing here?”

“Thought I’d get you to check my grapple,” Jason replied, pulling it out of his jacket. “I mean, if you’ve got time.”

Dick’s eyes lit up and he smiled. “Of course,” he replied, reaching over to snag it from Jason. He worked in mostly silence before murmuring, “I’ve been really worried.”

“About me falling?”

Dick nodded.

“I check it,” Jason offered gently, sitting up and resting his elbows on the table, watching Dick’s slender fingers look over the mechanisms. “Before  _ and _ after patrol. Exactly the way you taught me.”

“I believe you.”

“It’s still nice to have someone else look it over though,” Jason said, forcing a small smile on his face when Dick looked up. “Thank you.”

Dick gave a weak laugh, nodding as he finished over his checks before passing the gun over to Jason.

“Thank you for letting me look,” he said quietly as Jason stood. “You’ll check it after patrol, right?”

“Actually...could I come back here for you to check it?” Jason asked, surprising Dick since he knows the other  _ hates _ coming to the manor. Absolutely fucking  _ hates _ it.

“Yeah, of course,” Dick replied breathlessly. “Can...I ask why?”

“I’d feel safer. If you checked it.”

Dick nodded. “Yeah.”

“And...maybe I’ll seek you out on patrol,” Jason mumbled. “Maybe.”

Dick smiled. “I’d like that, Jason. Thank you.”

And for the first time in years, Dick wasn’t terrified that someone was going to fall that night.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts?


End file.
